A house on a hill filled with crochet, colour, music and love

Tag: rufford abbey

It’s been a lovely half term. The weather has been bright (mostly) but cold.

February half term is always a nice time to hunker down and enjoy the comforts of home. We’ve had a good mixture of home comforts and happy outings this week.

We’ve enjoyed our lazy mornings in our dressing gowns and the luxury of taking our time over our breakfasts rather than racing against the clock.

We tend to have avocado and toast at least twice a week. We all seem to enjoy it and it’s quick to do on a school day.

I like to cover mine in coriander and add a few chilli flakes. Little lady prefers plain.

We’ve had a lot of scrambled eggs at lunch time. It’s nice to be able to get together around the table at lunch which we don’t get to do on school days.

I’ve been enjoying fresh basil with my eggs this week. Yum.

We picked these roses up out of the bargain bin! They’ve been so nice to look at but I had to trim them pretty short as they were rather droopy.

We even had a few spare to dot about the house.

Little B had her friends over on Wednesday afternoon. What a great time they had. Two beautiful sisters with sunshine in their hearts and endless giggles and sunbeams to play with. They spent such a long time playing outside as kids do, exploring the pond (and falling in!) whilst I got to catch up with their smiley and lovely mummy.

After drying out from the pond slime, all enjoyed tucking into this homemade chocolate cake made by a very kind customer of Ms. What a week he has had… he’s been treated like a king at this lovely lady’s house. I couldn’t believe it when he came home with a whole chocolate cake made specially for little B!

We got lots of jobs done this week, things we’ve been meaning to do for ages but haven’t got around to.

At Christmas, we went to Lincoln Christmas market with our friends from the area. We picked up these beautiful star lamps but forgot all about putting them up!

This one now lives in bs room…

And this one is shining down in our hallway.

We had a special delivery today… a huuuuuuge pack of pipe cleaners. A clever friend of mine had made some gorgeous little flowers out of pipe cleaners with her little girl and we really had to have a go ourselves.

Ta-daaaaa

Aren’t they sweet! Little daffs and muscaries.

Little miss enjoyed making these and when M walked in mid way through, he even joined in!

If you fancy having a go, I found a really great tutorial for them Here

Making these little beauties was just what the doctor ordered after a bracingly cold walk around a “fairy trail” at Rufford Abbey this afternoon.

My little lady was far more interested in the different shaped and sized sticks she came across rather than the fairy trail.

But we were both really, Really taken with the most beautiful wishing tree at the end of the trail.

Every child had been given a ribbon to tie to the tree and make a wish at the end of the trail. It reminded me of the Buddhist prayer flags that flutter in the breeze and I suppose a very similar sentiment.

Little B eagerly fixed on her wish to the tree amongst all the other hopes and dreams of happy, optimistic children. How absolutely beautiful to think each one of those hundreds and hundreds of ribbons is so significant to the visiting bright and shiny souls that lovingly placed them there.

I was so touched by the wishing tree that I have decided we will bring this beautiful sentiment to our very own big tree who watches over us protectively.

I have a real thing for trees and the energies within them. I’ll share a very remarkable and magical story about a very special tree energy another time. Today, this tree seemed to be dancing into the wind, proudly waving all the wishes of the purist souls and reverently celebrating the attention it was receiving. We thought it such a very special moment to be part of. ❤️

Ha ha…. My little friend is learning the art of smiling on command, and this is the result! Bless her. We had a lovely surprise parcel the other morning. B’s grandma had packed up a lovely Christmas parcel and posted it to b. Inside was this lovely Christmas jumper….

Today, we were back at one of our favourite places again…. Rufford abbey. This time for a very special visit….

It seems that visiting father Christmas in the pouring rain was quite a good idea. We were the first in the grotto!

Little b was fine with Santa, she wasn’t scared of him at all. I think all the books we have been reading have helped. She immediately started requesting her aeroplane that she really wants.

He was a lovely, kind and talkative father Christmas with twinkly eyes. B was enticed immediately by a book he held.

And he gave her a lovely little toy giraffe which she hasn’t put down since.

Aroo has been creating more magic. Here he is swinging from some Christmas lights he put up in little bs bedroom….

She loved it. She is going to be very sad when he flies back to the north pole. I’m not looking forward to it. It’s kind of evolved that he is a Christmas tree elf and will disappear when the tree comes down.

We’ve been busy making things over advent, paper garlands….

Twinkly stars. Little b is breaking all our hearts at the moment with her beautifully sweet version of twinkle twinkle little star. Xxx

Angels and many, many pictures.

She is still enjoying granddads police helmet and loot at the beautiful Christmas outfit that her grandma and poppop bought her for special Christmas times…

Poor little mite is unwell tonight. She’s just been snuggling up with me out of bed for an hour after being sick. Let’s hope it will pass as quickly as it arrived.

And writing letters to father Christmas. Look at my little beauty, colouring our first letter to Santa.

Here is the result. Bella requests an aeroplane every time we ask her what she wants father Christmas to bring her. I, on the other hand, would like a pair of wellies without a hole in them!

There! I think we’re all done….And off it goes. The royal mail, here in England, have an address to write to with Christmas letters and Santa will write back! I can’t wait to see what the reply looks like.

M had a busy morning with little b yesterday and created her this marvel out of toilet rolls, cardboard and corks. He is so clever. There really is nothing he can’t do.

Saturday night, little b was very excited to get in mummys car and go on an adventure in the dark to rufford park.
Granny and granddad came along too.

Thank goodness actually, as the event we went to see turned out to have an unexpected admission charge and poor old granny had to help out!The event was called the aurora lights and the gardens were illuminated magically.

On the way through the abbey grounds, a glitter ball made snowflake patterns on the flaw and little b was enthralled by standing on them.

We went down dark paths, listening to meditative music and looked up at the skeletal, shimmery structures above us of the ancient and wonderful trees that we may not normally notice.

B raced along the paths as if she was scared she would miss out if she didn’t run and granny and granddad enjoyed watching her.

It looked beautiful. Colourful and ethereal.

Spindly….

Vibrant……

And majestic.

The children’s play gardens looked more like fantasy realms….

And the metal sculptures took on a whole new life in strange colours.

So much for my little friend to take in. It overwhelms me to imagine how all these new and exciting experiences must be for her.

I was especially taken by these willow, dancing ladies.

Someone is very clever.

And I liked these stone mushroom people.

But this was my favourite bit. These colourful lanterns lit the way to the abbey with such beauty and magical effect.

Lovely.

And they provided beebop with a great opportunity to play hide and seek!

Her favourite game at the moment.

More magical avenues showed us the way….

And mesmerised my little friend. I like this picture.

Little b was still running through the paths at this point…

and as we headed towards the end….

Granddad made a new friend! X7

We said goodbye to our final views of the abbey and then….

Came across this glorious moment. I absolutely love these colours together. Now, this is a metal sculpture that I must have walked by so many times and never really studied. It is made up of so many happy words, but I liked this view with the word ‘fun’ right in the middle. Too true!

Goodnight, love and seasons greetings to you all xxxxxxx

Thanks for dropping in at Windyhill.
I'm Eve. I've taken a parachute jump out of the rat race for a while and am staying at home with my beautiful daughter instead. Life focuses around nature and nurture here on windy hill. There's many a craft go on, some attempts at baking and lots of alternative therapies and music.
I hope you enjoy your visit, do say hi!
Love,
Eve xxxxxx